The demonization of pokeweed! I've been pulling pokeweed all week: I had no idea it can cause rashes in some people. I've never had a problem with it. When I was a kid, we used to make a real mess playing with the fruits. There was the widespread belief that it was poisonous if ingested, but no one thought twice about touching it. My crayon box had a color, Indian Lake: isn't there a connection between that and pokeweed? We used to use the juice from the ripe fruit as ink when we were playing. And I suppose we painted ourselves "Indian style" with the juice of the fruit. I have a friend who used to invite friends in each spring to try his boiled pokeweed. There are those who say it's as good as asparagus. Jim McKenney Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where a good insult to a gardener is "he couldn't grow a decent pokeweed".